Busted!!

[Big_Boy_4005]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dave9999

Speaking of lawyers, I ran across this story the other day on the internet.

In Pensacola, Fla., a drunken man who passed out on the CSX train tracks sued because he was hit by a train. Pedro Duran, 56, lost an arm and suffered a broken back in the accident. The train's engineer, who saw Duran but thought he was a lump of trash, blew the train's whistle for 54 seconds before the collision. Duran was awarded $600,000 for damages.

Sad times we live in. Dave

Truly sad, but really a token award. I agree he should have gotten nothing, but it sounds like CSX felt like they may have been saving money in legal fees by settling, rather than pressing their position in court.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by doccm9

Wow! Being a spelling nazi or a grammer nazi about someone else's post is a sure sign that the complainer has lost their argument. Always has been and always will be, welcome to the wonderful world of online debate.

Thats what I tend to think too

I don't mind people telling me My spelling sucks, because it does, However there are more creative ways to express ones opinion, and Telling me word for word about what i did wrong, man i spelt so much wrong, that must have taken hours!

don't know how he did it!

My engli***eacher always says, it's not how you spell the word or the sentance, it's what the sentance means thats important.

SO i'm asking you all, and i WANT a true ANSWER... listen up...

How many of you, honestly Would know if soemone spelt Brown like Brnow, would you automatically Associate the missspelled word with Brown?

I jsut want to know if anyone else would...

[Big_Boy_4005]

I can get through them, understand, and not complain, it just takes a fraction of a second longer per occurance.

Take a few extra seconds before submitting your response, and you will catch most of them, and your "image" will improve. I'm a very poor typist, and that's what I have to do. My problem is that I can't think and type at the same time, so I edit as I go.

I'm a bit of a perfectionist, but I still make a lot of mistakes, I'll edit a response if I think the problem is bad enough.[:)]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Truly sad, but really a token award. I agree he should have gotten nothing, but it sounds like CSX felt like they may have been saving money in legal fees by settling, rather than pressing their position in court.

Ummm, I think Mr. Duran was awarded money, not given...

In any case, It is wrong to trespass, regardless of circumstance.

Some one drove up my driveway the other day. I live in a rather secluded area. I thought, since I didn't recognize the car or the person in it, I might need to call the police. I approached him anyway, and asked what he wanted...

The county assesor...

I shoulda called the cops.........

Quit all the bickering and get on with life! This site is turning into a bummer, already!

[Big_Boy_4005]

QUOTE: Originally posted by sav336

QUOTE: Truly sad, but really a token award. I agree he should have gotten nothing, but it sounds like CSX felt like they may have been saving money in legal fees by settling, rather than pressing their position in court.

Ummm, I think Mr. Duran was awarded money, not given...

In any case, It is wrong to trespass, regardless of circumstance.

You are correct, the term awarded does imply that a decision was made at the end of the case. I would be very interested to hear the full details surrounding this incident. I'm not sure if Dave is simply recounting the story here or if this an excerpt taken directly from a news source.

There many aspects of this short tale that I find troublesome. The engineer was able to see that there was "SOMETHING'" in his path, at a distance equal to 54 seconds travel before impact, because he blew the horn for that length of time. My question is what speed was the train traveling at when the engineer leaned on the horn?

Simple Newtonian physics would tell if it was or wasn't possible for the train to stop before impact. At 60 mph 54 seconds represents almost a mile, and not enough distance to safely stop a loaded train. As our model uses lower and lower speeds, we reach a point where the engineer could indeed stop. At 60 mph, is it possible to see a mile down the track in this location??

What bugs me here, is why the man was out wandering in that state of drunkeness in the first place. The blame should lie with whomever served him and allowed him to leave in that condition, NOT WITH THE RAILROAD. If he bought it himself, and conusmed it in private, then he has no one to blame but himself.

The fact that he ended up on the railroad tracks has nothing to do with trespassing, this man had no control over where or when he collapsed, and was incapable of reasoning or coherent thought required to make the decision of where to go or not go. It is clear the he was simply too impared to know where he was or what he was doing. If the cops had found him on the sidewalk, the would have thrown him in the tank, but he wasn't that lucky. What person in their right mind would take a nap on the railroad tracks?

Unfortunately, the railroad makes an easy and convenient target with deep pockets. If a jury was responsible for giving this man $600,000, then they have way more sympathy than I do, and he was lucky I wasn't a member of the jury.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE:

QUOTE: Wow! Being a spelling nazi or a grammer nazi about someone else's post is a sure sign that the complainer has lost their argument. Always has been and always will be, welcome to the wonderful world of online debate.

Thats what I tend to think too

I don't mind people telling me My spelling sucks, because it does, However there are more creative ways to express ones opinion, and Telling me word for word about what i did wrong, man i spelt so much wrong, that must have taken hours!

I mainly hang out on Fark.com, where there tends to be quite a few flame wars on a daily basis about the political and religious topics, and many of those threads tend to go well into the hundreds of posts in a day. You see this all the time there, when you have so many people involved in a debate. The spelling and grammar corrections are only second to name calling as a sign of a losing debate. Does get quite interesting though if you have an hour or more to read through a whole thread.
I started to read and making the occasional post in Trains.com forums, because of the lighter posting topics and to learn more about trains and modelling, but you can definately spot the occasional flame war. Kind of cool though. Sorry, this is just a pointless post I guess.
Choo choo!

[dave9999]

Bigboy,
This is the only other thing I could find on the matter. The original, I just happened across. This is from the
Orlando Sentinal. Not much more info, although it does say a jury awarded the $$. Dave

* In June, a jury in Pensacola, Fla., awarded nearly $600,000 to
Pedro Duran, 56, in his lawsuit against the CSX company.
Duran lost his left arm and suffered a broken back and leg when
a CSX train hit him as he lay on the tracks, passed out from a
round of drinking. According to trial testimony, an engineer
spotted what he thought was a lump of trash on the tracks and
sounded the whistle as a precaution for 54 seconds before the
collision. However, the "lump of trash"--Duran--didn't move.
[Orlando Sentinel-AP, 7-1-95]

[Big_Boy_4005]

Thanks Dave, makes me wonder about the reporting. Your original telling had all of that info. Any idea when the accident happened? Or where, since you live down there. The fact that the jury did award the money says that the entire case was presented.

If you stop and think about it, the medical and rehab costs for this guy may excede his award, which goes back to my original comment that this was a small amount. I'm not putting any blame on the engineer here, but did he at least try to stop? We may never know.

[dave9999]

The bottom of the article above says 7-1-95. I vaguely remember hearing something about this back then, but
no details. I tried the Orlando Sentinel web site, but no results. I assume they dont keep articles on the site that long. Dave

[Big_Boy_4005]

Wow, that's old! I doubt the railroad will appeal this one, no sense throwing good money after bad. Thanks[:)]